A History of the White House Hotel
By Jean L. Robertson
Situated on a steep hill with a magnificent view of one corner of Lake of Bays, the White
House Hotel was a popular resort in its hey-day in the early part of the century. It was
located on the north-west shore about eight miles from Baysville on the present day
South Portage Road. The summer resort drew its guests from the Toronto-HamiltonBuffalo area and many came year after year, staying the whole summer.
Around the year 1900, Mrs. Jane Harris of Brantford, Ontario built a summer home on
the site, and laid the corner for what was to be the White House Hotel.
Mrs. Harris’ husband, John Harris, who had died before this time, was President of Harris
farm implement company which joined with Massey Co. to become famous as the
Massey Harris Company. Jane Harris had a large family, including son Morgan, who
married Louise Munro around 1900. Their daughter Eve Douglas remembers her mother
telling how they used to take the train to Huntsville then the steamer trip to the Portage
Flyer, and finally a second steamer to their summer place on Lake of Bays.
One of the best known members of the Group of Seven painters was Lawren Harris, who
was a cousin of Morgan Harris. He spent time at the White House with the family.
Pictures taken in 1902 show the Harris men with a Dr. Porter, who married into the clan.
It seems that Jane Harris’ relative Christopher Cook handled her business affairs, as the
property was registered in his name. Eve Douglas remembers him as a banker.
In 1907, the White House property was sold to Joel and George Alldred; George was the
son of Joel and Olive, and he and his sister helped run the hotel. At this time the White
House was a large home with a centre hall plan and a large verandah on three sides. They
added a bedroom wing to the east, and later George added a large dining room with
bedrooms above to the west. At the back of the main lodge there was a kitchen on one
side, and on the other an icehouse, with a walkway between. Another older building
behind these housed the laundry and housed a bedroom or two upstairs where George
slept. A press was used to iron the sheets and other linens.
The hotel was fairly isolated, so supplies were brought in by boat and a large garden
supplied much of the fresh produce. At least once a week the supply boat, owned by
William Langmaid of Baysville, came around. During the years, many teachers on
summer vacation helped run the boat and sell the groceries to cottage owners, as well as
the resorts. The Alldreds put their perishables down the well or in a basement with an
earthen floor. Icehouses were also used, stocked with large ice blocks from the frozen
lake. In time, George acquired a cat and as the roads became more accessible, he went
into town almost daily, shopping at Huntsville Trading and Wardells.
The steamship Iroquois made a trip right around Lake of Bays ever day, carrying not only
passengers, luggage and cargo, but the Royal Mail. Each day, except Sunday, the mailbag
was dropped off on the White House dock, and some was distributed to waiting cottagers
or guests, then the rest taken up to the main lodge and put in cubbyholes in the hall. The
children along the shore used to race the Iroquois when they heard its whistle before
steaming into sight. (We were warned to be quiet if we had to go into the hotel for our
mail).
Olive Alldred was a deceptively tiny woman, but there was no question that she really ran
the place. She was married at 16 and lived to 97, and was very bright despite having little
formal education. In her later years, she became known to all as Granny Alldred.
The hotel guests enjoyed swimming in the clear water from a long sandy beach of from
the long White House dock. George’s boat, The Unexpected, was kept in a white
boathouse by the dock. There were tennis courts at lake level, and of course the fishing
was good in those days. The guests also flocked to the dances held frequently on the
verandah, and played games, read, or just sat on the porch chairs to view the scenes
below.
A long steep path led up from the dock to the hotel and George’s brother Oscar carried
guests’ luggage up this path, often lugging trunks full of books on his back. It was a long
journey by train and steamer from the city and in those days’ people did not travel light.
There was an annual get-together at the White House for guests and some cottagers, with
afternoon tea served. The dining room boasted a huge stone fireplace with a “spread”
eagle over the mantel. George had the fireplace built by Mr. McFarlane, a stone mason.
Many happy occasions were celebrated with beautiful cakes made by one of the Ellises
from Baysville. The meals served at the hotel were very good, and cottages nearby often
went fro their dinner at noon, white others whose food supply had dwindled during July,
had both dinner and supper there. Some of the desserts remembered fondly were lemon
meringue pie and rice pudding, as well as the fresh berry pies in season.
One of the waitresses in the 1910s was a local girl named Gertie, who later married Oscar
Alldred and continued to live in the area all her life. She remembers Granny Alldred’s
story of Joel making all the cedar shingles by hand for the roof of the Cook cottage, as
part payment for the White House property. Apparently he devised a bicycle-type
machine on which he cut and shaped the shingles, sometimes he would be up at the crack
of dawn to finish them on time.
There is nothing left of the White House Hotel now, except two sets of cement steps and
memories.
This article republished with permission of the author. “White House History” was
originally published in the Lake of Bays Association Handbook in 1990.